


one little fear

by uchiuchi



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Tokyo (City), haru is afraid of spiders, makoto thinks it's cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-19
Updated: 2015-11-19
Packaged: 2018-05-02 10:35:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5245109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchiuchi/pseuds/uchiuchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto sees Haruka swallow, his adam’s apple bobbing nervously, and then Haruka ducks his head. “Spider…”</p>
<p>Makoto tilts his head. “Spider?”</p>
<p>“There’s a spider under the bed.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	one little fear

“Makoto.” Haruka’s voice is shaky and he crouches defensively on the bed, pillow pressed against his chest and the lower half of his face. “Take me back to your place.”

“...Eh?”

Haruka’s wide eyes meet his. Makoto doesn’t know how to feel because he’s pretty sure he’s never seen such fear in those blue eyes before, but at the same time, he’s here and there’s… nothing wrong. “Makoto.”

“You know I don’t mind it when you come over, Haru, but… can you tell me why?”

Even in the darkness of the room, Makoto can see Haruka’s face redden and he turns his head and mumbles something into the pillow he’s holding.

Makoto frowns. “Haru, I can’t hear you.”

More mumbling comes from Haruka’s end, a little louder this time.

Makoto steps forward. “Haru, I can’t understand what you’re saying,” he sighs, and sits down on the bed right across from the other. “Or do you want me to read your thoughts?”

Haruka immediately turns his head and stares right into Makoto’s eyes, giving him permission to get inside his head and decipher what he, for some reason, doesn’t want to say. Makoto shakes his head and gently takes Haruka’s hands into his own, lowering the pillow from his face. “Haru, please? I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.

Makoto sees Haruka swallow, his adam’s apple bobbing nervously, and then Haruka ducks his head. “Spider…”

Makoto tilts his head. “Spider?”

“There’s a spider under the bed.”

The room goes quiet.

“...Haru.” Makoto breathes out a laugh. “That’s it?”

Haruka’s head shoots up and he pouts, brows furrowed, looking absolutely offended at Makoto’s comment. “What do you mean ‘that’s it’?”

“W-Well, I don’t mean your fear isn’t something to be taken seriously, but…” Makoto lets himself relax for the first time since he’d left his place. “When you called me, I thought something really bad had happened."

Haruka’s eyes soften for a split second and he parts his lips, because he can see why Makoto would think that. He had called him in the middle of the night, said a total of maybe three words before hanging up, and he’s sure that Makoto left his apartment right after to get here. If his uncombed hair and pajama bottoms are anything to go by, he probably hadn’t even locked his door.

The way Haruka went about this probably wasn’t the best idea.

But then just as quickly, a reminder of what the issue is springs into his mind and his gaze, steady and hard, locks. “This _is_ really bad. How am I supposed to sleep?”

Makoto hums. “I don’t think a small spider would hurt you.”

“Makoto, did you know that, on average, humans swallow eight spiders a year in their sleep?”

“Haru, I’m pretty sure that’s not true…”

Haruka huffs and turns his head again, feigning annoyance, but Makoto can see relief flash across his eyes. He wonders how long he’s been sleeping with that idea in his head.

“Hey, Haru,” Makoto prods, rubbing circles into Haruka’s palms. Haruka side glances at him as a response. “You never told me you were afraid of spiders.”

“We never saw much in Iwatobi, so it never really came up, but…” Haruka chews on his bottom lip. Makoto recognizes it as the sign that he’s about to share some information he doesn’t exactly want to. “Remember when we went to the park for a picnic and I kept making us move around?”

Makoto smiles. He remembers that day for a lot of reasons, and Haruka’s constant requests to move, followed by him shooting upwards to a stand and dragging the blanket they’d brought to another location, only setting it down after he’d vigorously shooken it off, was one of them. “Because it was too hot?”

Haruka stares at Makoto desperately.

“Ah… I see.”

“I’d never seen so _many.”_

Makoto raises one of his hands, covering his mouth as a giggle shoots through him. “How cute.”

_“Makoto.”_

“You don’t need to be embarrassed, Haru. I was scared of sillier things when I was little,” Makoto assures him, pulling him closer. Haruka accepts the tug graciously and settles into Makoto’s lap, head taking its place on broad shoulders. “The vacuum cleaner especially…"

Haruka snorts. “I remember that.”

“I remember when I started crying at the sound and you went and pulled the cord in the middle of my mom’s cleaning,” Makoto laughs, wrapping his arms around Haruka’s waist and gently pressing against his lower back. Haruka sighs and relaxes against him, and Makoto’s grateful that he’s able to divert his attention. “Do you remember that?”

Haruka smiles against his shoulder. “Mhm.”

“And I was scared of mirrors for a while after Taki-san told us that scary story…” Makoto smiles nervously, not wanting to mention that he still sometimes sprints out of the bathroom without a glance at the mirror whenever he has to go at night.

“I glued paper all over the mirror in your bathroom when that happened.”

“Ah!” Makoto’s eyes widen at the memory. “That’s right! You did!”

Haruka huffs out a laugh. “You were scared of a lot of things.”

“I still am,” Makoto sighs in defeat. “How embarrassing…”

“But,” Haruka interrupts, “I never minded. I liked protecting you.” His voice drops an entire step quieter with every word he says. He shifts nervously on Makoto’s lap and Makoto hears the unspoken ‘ _I still do.’_ “Maybe that’s why I never told you about my fear.”

“Because you thought that I’d think Haru-chan wasn’t my hero anymore?” Makoto teases, and Haruka smacks him lightly on the arm. “I doubt it.”

Haruka smiles. “Mm.”

Makoto places a kiss atop Haruka’s head and begins running his fingers through his hair. Minutes pass, and Haruka slowly sinks his body into Makoto’s grasp with every passing moment, until Makoto wonders if Haruka’s fallen asleep or not. The position they’re sitting in, though, prevents Makoto from getting up without disturbing the other, and they both need to sleep _somewhat_ comfortably. He hesitates. “Hey, Haru?”

“Mm?” comes Haruka’s tired reply, and Makoto’s glad he’s gotten his attention before he really dozes off.

“Do you want to take care of that spider now?”

Haruka shivers against his body.

“I can help you catch it and we can set it outside.”

Haruka’s nails dig into Makoto’s arm.

“It’s the only way any of us are going to get any sleep,” Makoto reminds him, and the thought floats around in Haruka’s head for a while before he’s letting out another sigh and letting go of Makoto. “You don’t have to do anything.”

“No, it’s okay.” Haruka pushes himself off of Makoto and flicks on the light beside his bed. He stares at the ground below them, scrutinizing it, and then he’s leaping off of the bed and running across the room to grab a tissue. Makoto gets off of the bed right after him and kneels down to look underneath it, and when Haruka returns and holds out the tissue for him to take, he looks like he’s just run a marathon.

Makoto’s not sure if he wants to smile at the expression Haruka has on his face or pull him into his arms protectively.

“Under here, right?” he asks, and Haruka nods slowly. Makoto takes out his phone and uses it for illumination, slowly sweeping it along the length of the floor. “Are you sure? I don’t see it.”

Instead of a response, Makoto sees Haruka hesitate beside him before getting down on his knees and peeking underneath the bed with him. Sure enough, even with a second pair of eyes, the spider that Haru’d seen earlier isn’t anywhere to be found.

Makoto turns to Haruka, smiling, expecting this news to overjoy him.

Instead, Haruka looks as terrified as before.

“If it’s not under the bed, where is it?”

Oh.

Makoto hadn’t thought about that.

“Makoto,” Haruka warns, hand reaching out to curl around his arm.

And then Makoto spots it from the corner of his eye, a small black bug crawling much too fast towards them, and he’s sure Haruka sees it too if the death grip he subjects his arm to the very next second is any indication.

“M-Makoto!”

“Here, let me just scoop it into the tissue and then we can--,” he tries to say, but Haruka doesn’t wait for him to finish, instead choosing to climb onto his body and use him as a springboard to leap back onto the bed. Haruka immediately grabs the pillow again and holds it in front of his face.

Makoto blinks, laughs, then turns back to the eight-legged bug and lets it crawl onto the tissue. He stands up carefully and Haruka leans back, eyes wide as he watches carefully, watches as Makoto walks over to his window, opens it up, and unfolds the tissue to let the spider climb outside. Once it does, he closes the window and locks it, then turns back to Haruka with a smile.

Haruka instantly relaxes, letting the pillow drop from his hands, and then the guilt of having Makoto come all the way to his apartment for something as silly as this weighs on him. “Makoto…”

“This was fun, wasn’t it?” Makoto walks back to the bed, and Haruka blinks up at him. “I was thinking of calling you tonight, but it’s even better that I got to come and see you instead, huh?”

Haruka’s lips curve into a smile. Leave it to Makoto to decipher his thoughts and get rid of any negative ones before they can even surface. “...Yeah.”

“I learn new things about you every day,” Makoto muses. “And it’s too late to catch any trains home now, so do you mind if I stay here?”

“Like you need to ask.”

Makoto laughs. “You’re right. Guess I don’t,” he hums before crawling into bed beside Haruka. He wraps his arms around the other and Haruka breathes in his scent, entire mind falling into a state of bliss and ease.

Makoto had always been there for him, _is still_ always there for him, even for things that Haruka himself doesn’t understand. Haruka prides himself on being Makoto’s protector, sure, but Makoto is the reason he has the strength to protect in the first place. His hands curl a little tighter around the other, relishing in the warmth that surrounds his body, the _literal sunshine_ comforting him.

His heart swells, thumping erratically against the walls in his chest, each beat symbolizing how many breaths he would gladly give up for him.

“Makoto?"

“Hm?”

“I’m thirsty.”

“You can go grab some water. I’ll wait here.”

“I want you to grab it.”

Makoto pulls back slightly to look Haruka in the eyes. “Why me?”

Haruka shrugs. “There might be more spiders around. Wouldn’t want to risk stepping on any.”

Makoto raises a brow, and when Haruka’s upturned lips move away from a smile and towards a smirk, he shakes his head in disbelief. “Is this how things are going to go now?” he asks, but moves to swing his legs over the bed anyway.

“I can go with you, if you want,” Haruka volunteers, and before Makoto can say anything, he shimmies his way underneath Makoto’s shirt, head popping out right behind his, arms wrapping around Makoto’s bare skin. “You know, just in case there’re any mirrors around.”

“Haru!” Makoto defends. “I was five!”

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you run in the middle of the night.”

Makoto tenses up, a small whine rumbling out of his throat. “I thought you were sleeping…”

“Come on. I’m thirsty.” Haruka kisses the back of his neck and holds on tighter when Makoto lifts them both off of the bed. It’s so warm, so oddly comfortable how he can feel Makoto’s back muscles moving underneath him as he walks, that he’s sure he can fall asleep right here if he wants to.

And he does.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have a huge headcanon that Haru is scared to death by spiders and that is how this came to be.  
> Thanks for reading!


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